Blood Lead Levels in Children Increase

According to a report by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in 38 children show signs of lead poisoning in the U.S.

Nearly 535,000 children in the country have damaging levels of lead in their bodies; this may cause loss of intelligence, attention disorders and several other health problems, stated a news release by federal health officials.

"To the extent that Americans think this is a problem of the past, clearly this is evidence there is still a problem," said Rebecca Morley, executive director of the National Center for Healthy Housing, a non-profit lead-poisoning-prevention advocacy group.

She stressed that Congress eliminated most of CDC's funding for federal lead-poisoning-prevention programs throughout the country, this in turn has led to difficulty in  identifying exposure sources for the affected children and in taking preventive steps.

As per the latest report and the new standards by CDC, around 2.6 percent children have blood lead level of minimum 5 micrograms. The CDC reported that no safe blood lead level in children has been identified.

The report also stated that after the removal of lead from gasoline and paint the number of children with high levels of lead in their bodies is under control.

According to the health experts, the lead-contaminated house dust and soil contributes to the high lead levels in a child's body. Children tend to put their dust-covered hands and toys in their mouths.

Most of the old houses have lead-based paint that turns into dust eventually. This also results in the soil getting contaminated from the lead.

According to USA TODAY's "Ghost Factories" investigation, most of the states in the country have high levels of lead contamination.